The “Loreto Aprutino wine districts”, the beginning of a path to enhance the whole territory

Loreto Aprutino is a municipality of more or less 7,000 inhabitants, in the province of Pescara, in the heart of Abruzzo. Of which it is, in fact, the wine “cru”, with wineries that have brought the name and value of Abruzzo wines to the highest levels in the world, starting with Valentini, a reality recognized as a “guide”, capable of enhancing the value of Trebbiano like no other, but also wineries such as Amorotti, Ciavolich, De Fermo, Talamonti and Torre de Beati. And now, around wine, and the project of “Le contrade del vino di Loreto Aprutino” (made tangible by the book written by Gabriele Valentini, a researcher at the University of Bologna, presented, in recent days, in the Abruzzo town), an ambitious project has taken its first steps, which wants to make Loreto Aprutino a real agricultural biodistrict, where to protect and enhance also the millenary oil production, cheeses, wine tourism and everything that revolves around the agri-food of the territory. As explained to WineNews by Chiara Ciavolich, president of “Custodes Laureti”, which brings together the six most important wineries in the area, and which, with Gal Terre Pescaresi, has promoted the “Contrade” project.
“The idea starts from a scientific research resulting from a territory project funded in 2021 by Gal Terre Pescaresi, which was born at the time of Covid, to bring to life a small “atlas” of Loreto Aprutino, starting with wine and vineyards, which today are the economic engines of the territory, but then involving the whole network of producers, but also civic museums, schools and so on”. And so, between data survey columns, geological excavations and studies, the identification of four units of land around the Tavo River, within which the “Contrade” are articulated, was arrived at. Which are Cocciapazza, Camposacro, Contrada Palazzo and Salmacina Bassa, Cecalupo, Cancelli, Cordano Colle Cavaliere and Scannella.
“The wine districts of Loreto Aprutino” is an analysis of the terroir of one of the most renowned villages in Abruzzo for viticultural activity.The book is divided into two parts. The first part is an in-depth investigation of geo-pedology and climate, the foundational parameters for defining the concept of terroir, and concludes with an analysis of the last 50 vintages. In the second part, the author reports the results of a three-year research he conducted and coordinated: it is a geo-morphological, pedological and climatic survey of the “Contrade” vineyards south of the Tavo River. Geology, climate and lithological survey: through a detailed analysis of these parameters, the volume concludes with the subdivision of the territory into 4 landscape units, the point of arrival of the research and the starting point towards the production of wines that are an expression of the place”, explains author Gabriele Valentini. “I am originally from Loreto Aprutino”, the author explained, “these are the places where I grew up. When I started mapping the land, I highlighted the main vineyards of Loreto Aprutino to find a connection with the area right away. So I produced an initial map of Loreto. We then had meteorological sheds installed on those 7 strategic points: Cecalupo, Palazzo, Scannella North and Scannella South, Cocciapazza, Colle Cavaliere, Cordano, and Cancelli near the Tavo River, in this way we took information to study the soil both from a pedological and mesoclimatic point of view. It was complex but exciting work because of my affection for this country”.
A foundational work, the natural path of which, one would think, is a real zoning to bring “Contrade” to the label, as is done in Sicily on Etna. But “it is premature to talk about it, and we do not want this project to become a simple medal to put on our chests. We as wine producers, our bottles”, Chiara Ciavolich explains, “sell them anyway. And, maybe, it would be nice to enhance Loreto Aprutino as a subzone, even before the “Contrade”. What we want to do is to build a scientific and credible basis for a solid and long-lasting path, to perhaps result in a De.Co (Denominazioni Comunali, already proposed historically by one of the masters of Italian food and wine criticism, Luigi Veronelli), which is an old ball of Edoardo Valentini’s, to enhance not only wine but also oil, cheeses and all the other agricultural productions of the area. And, perhaps, also to give birth to a bio-district, not because all producers have to start doing organic, but to protect, once and for all, an area that is agricultural excellence, but that also appeals to many for industrial purposes that would distort it, as when it was proposed to make a biomethane power plant here, in 2019, a project to oppose which “Custodes Loreti” was born, based on the idea of Francesco Paolo Valentini. We would like to do a tracing of the current biodiversity of Loreto Aprutino, because it is very diverse territory, including arable land, legumes, coppice forests, olive groves and, of course, vineyards. It is an ambitious project that will require investing in ad hoc professionalism, also looking at work on schools, to pass on history and create a future. And for young people not to abandon the land. Farms like ours are not simple businesses, but real social garrisons of the territories. The goal of our network”, Chiara Ciavolich said again, “is not the promotion of our wine. That is not why we producers approached each other and joined together. For us, wine is the common thread that unites our lives, our farms and our family histories, it is the blood that runs through our bodies and it is definitely the agricultural product with the highest added value that, at least in the contemporary era, Loreto Aprutino has. But our purpose and our union transcend wine and look at the value of Loreto Aprutino in all its specificities, in every aspect: agronomic, cultural, historical-landscape and tourism. And Gabriele Valentini’s book is a concrete example of this”. And it is a founding step on a long and ambitious path.